


Out of the Blue

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 01:23:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13307436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: Mal loved Evie, she realized that now. With just the two of them alone, singing to each other against the canvas of a stained glass window, Mal fell and fell hard. But her world was dark, and dangerous; Evie's world was bright, and safe, the stuff of fairytales. Evie deserved so much more than her, and Mal—with all her love and all her heart—would never stand in the way of Evie's happiness.





	Out of the Blue

**Author's Note:**

> from an anonymous request on tumblr

Mal's day had already been far, far from ordinary. In some twisted and cosmic way, this was really just the icing on the cake.

She'd left Ben, ran away back to The Isle,  _lost_ an arm-wrestling match against Uma (seriously, what was up with that?), and played mad scientist at Lady Tremaine's place. Something she never thought she'd find herself admitting, playing mad scientist at Lady Tremaine's was the closest she came to normal—an artist was always used to having fingers flecked with color, after all. But as it turned out, her day didn't end there, and there was one last thing in particular that tipped the scales, shuffled the board, booted Curl Up & Dye completely out of the running and claimed first place in the contest of "Normal".  
  
Being arm in arm with Evie, walking freely and easily with smiles and laughter and reminiscing between them.  
  
That, there, was Mal's normal. Evie. At her side. No accusing judgements about her return to The Isle, no finger pointing, no scolding for ending things with Ben the way she did. Just Evie, curling her arm tighter around Mal's and leaning in to rest their heads comfortably together as they walked. This, Mal realized, was why she thought of Evie and Evie alone in her hastily-scrawled goodbye note back at Auradon Prep—comfort. A thing she sometimes had with Ben but  _always_  had with Evie.   
  
In saying goodbye to Auradon, she was saying goodbye to Evie, which had been a much simpler thing to do when Evie wasn't standing right there with her.  
  
"...I'm not coming back, Evie."  
  
It felt like an electric shock, the way Evie pulled away from her just then, as if Mal's own arm had been tugged away instead of her best friend's. And those eyes, those enchanting eyes that had just seconds ago been reflecting warmth and light, now reflecting pain, a lost and cold anguish. Yes, saying goodbye to Evie had been a much simpler thing to do when Evie wasn't standing right there with her. Mal had to make her understand, understand that this wasn't something she  _wanted_  to do, not by any means. The words came to her after only the briefest of pauses, how Evie was an Auradon girl, and how Mal would always be the girl from The Isle. The Isle and Auradon were never meant to coexist, they remained separate, distant, for if not, one would inevitably destroy the other. And no matter how much it hurt to let go, Mal would never let any part of her destroy any part of Evie.  
  
Mal wondered if it surprised them both, how quickly Evie made the resolution to stay. It certainly surprised  _her_. Mal was the one who was always there when Evie bolted awake in bed, head frantically whipping around to check her surroundings, to make sure she wasn't back on The Isle like her dreams had tormentingly teased. And Mal was the one who always gently pulled Evie away from the windows when she caught the girl's hundred-yard stare fixed out across the ocean at the clouded silhouette of The Isle. Truthfully, it was startling enough just hearing her voice echo through the hideout as it traveled through the speaker, for Mal never imagined Evie would return but couldn't even  _fathom_  the thought that Evie might stay.  
  
Just the two of them, Mal and Evie, Evie and Mal, running The Isle their way, forever and ever. Mal would deeply miss Jay, she'd deeply miss Carlos, she'd miss strawberries and soft beds and bright sunshine and clean smells, but she could bear the loss of all of that so long as she had Evie at her side. In her heart, Mal wanted her to stay, but in her heart of hearts, she knew she couldn't let her. Mal wouldn't be sleeping easy on cold, creaky beds, but she wouldn't be sleeping at all knowing she had dragged Evie back down into this life with her. With her best friend in Auradon, snuggled under warm, cushy sheets with more pillows than she knew what to do with, Mal at least stood a chance of a decent night's rest.  
  
The sound of their heels clanging against the metal stairway bounced almost deafeningly through the silence, but said silence was soon enough filled with a more pleasant sound, the  _beautiful_  and mesmerizing sound of Evie's voice singing out, bringing Mal to a stop.  
  
Nightmares were always frequent visitors to the both of them, but where bad dreams reared their heads, Mal and Evie would come to each other's rescue night after night with song, soothing their fevered feelings in one of the purest and sweetest of ways. Hearing Evie sing to her and then parting her lips to sing right back was certainly nothing new, but here and now, something about it was sending a strange shiver through Mal's body. She could just close her eyes and let that voice wash over her like the waves of an ocean hiding the sirens within. But the way Evie was watching her, eyes sparkling with hope, Mal didn't dare do anything to look away.  
  
She didn't even feel her hand slowly inching across the railing, but suddenly Evie's fingers were twining around hers, her touch bringing Mal's world into crystal clear focus. She never quite realized how... _entrancing_  Evie was, how those deep, chocolate eyes pulled her in and held her there, the brightest light on that dark and dreary island. Mal followed her into the hideout the way she'd follow her to the ends of the earth; surely, and never letting themselves stray too far apart. Evie's words were her goodbye, as were Mal's, but neither of them had felt a goodbye quite like this one before.  
  
Their words also served as a promise, a promise that from Isle to Auradon, the two would stay in each other's hearts. From Isle to Auradon, they had become a part of each other, and even if they couldn't always see one another, or hear one another, or hold one another, it would always be Mal and Evie, Evie and Mal.  
  
Like a bolt out of the blue.  
  
With a deep breath, closed eyes, and her head touched softly to Evie's, that's how quickly Mal realized she'd fallen in love with her best friend.  
  
She didn't want to let go of Evie's hand when their goodbye came to an end, didn't want to ruin how perfectly their fingers threaded together. She didn't want Evie's arm to draw away from her shoulders, tearing away that veil of wonderful warmth she felt within the girl's hug. There it was, there it  _all_ was—she loved Evie. She was  _in love_  with Evie. And suddenly, saying goodbye and watching her walk away became an impossible feat, something Mal could not and would not let herself do.  
  
Just as Evie made the split-second decision to stay on The Isle, Mal made the split-second decision to hop into the limo with a rescued Ben and the VKs instead of hanging back to make sure Uma was really kept at bay and seeing the limo drive off across the golden bridge to Auradon without her. There was Ben, almost-fishbait Ben sitting at her side and saying  _something_ to her, but Mal wasn't listening. Eyes, ears, all senses were on Evie, Evie and her ever-entrancing eyes curiously watching the exchange between Ben and Mal before turning her gaze out the window, looking on as Isle turned to ocean with cheeks tinged red from her masterful swordfight. In what seemed like no time at all, the grounds of Auradon Prep were surrounding them, green and crisp and tidy, the antithesis of The Isle. Mal and Evie crossed the lawn in silence, traversed the corridors of the school to their dorm room like they had just left the last class of the day and not a showdown with pirates.  
  
"...Here we are. Home sweet home," Evie swung open the door and let Mal step inside.  
  
"It's just like I remember it," Mal teased, exaggerating her time spent on The Isle.  
  
She settled in on her bed, taking a studying look around the room like it really had been a while since she'd laid eyes on it.  
  
"Are you still going to cotillion? ...I have your dress right here, if you are..." Evie gently said, crossing over to the closet.   
  
Mal loved her. She loved her for letting the whole Isle escapade just drop, for segueing right back into the ordinary and forgetting the whole thing ever happened, just like Mal wanted to. She was eyeing the blue and yellow creation draped over the hanger in Evie's hands, the proud Auradon colors blazing brightly. And then she looked away, casting her gaze downwards, unable to stare at those proud Auradon colors for long.  
  
"...I can make some changes," Evie offered, noting Mal's avoidance.  
  
"E, you don't have to. Cotillion's tonight, you still have to deliver all the other dresses, you've got too much on your plate already. I just won't go, simple enough."  
  
"But it's going to be so much fun."  
  
"With everyone's eyes on me? Judging how I'm not with Ben? A whole evening of whispering behind my back? I don't think so," Mal shook her head, leaning backwards against her headboard.  
  
Before she knew it, Evie was right there next to her with another hug waiting, another embrace for Mal to utterly melt into.  
  
"Okay," Evie said with a nod. "Just stay here, do whatever you need to do. I'll be back before you know it, alright?"  
  
"Alright."  
  
"Want to help me drop off the dresses?"  
  
"Judgmental stares, remember?"  
  
"Ah, right," Evie smiled shyly at her. "Well, you'll be safe and sound here. Just forget all about cotillion."  
  
A lot easier said than done, for when evening fell and Mal was almost positive that literally the whole school had left, she was curled up on her bed with remote in hand, turning to the live broadcast of the cotillion.  
  
And suddenly there was Evie.  
  
Radiant, elegant, turning gracefully for the cameras with a smile that warmed Mal more than the blanket she'd bundled herself in. Evie was a literal princess there on the tv screen, a dream come true. Mal's only regret of the night was not being there to see her with her own two eyes. She knew they wouldn't, but how Mal wished the cameras would just stay on her all night, broadcasting the chronicles of Evie instead of the royal cotillion.   
  
And then, there was Doug, taking Evie's outstretched hand and moving to stand at her side with a smile. The warmth enveloping Mal like one of her best friend's hugs turned into ice, frigid and sharp. Mal may have left her prince behind, but Evie had not.  
  
For all her fun, her love of the glamour and the regality, Evie ducked out of cotillion early, before the night had even officially ended. The ride back to Auradon Prep seemed slow, unbearably so, and watching the starry sky race by above did little to keep her thoughts off of Mal. Finally arriving back to school, she hurried into the dorm so quickly she didn't even stop to notice the silence from the room, the darkness seeping out from underneath the door. Mal was asleep, the picture of bliss and peace snuggled into her pillow. If only Evie knew Mal had been crying into it hours before.  
  
Something had changed. The Mal that Evie had brought back from The Isle was not the same Mal that had left for it. Averted gazes, clipped conversations, forced smiles...Evie understood that there had to be a grace period of adjustment, but when days turned into weeks, she stopped being able to remember the last time Mal had let her give her a hug.  
  
"Hi Mal," she said hopefully, coming into the dorm room after a study session in the library.  
  
Mal was at the desk, having her own solitary study session.  
  
"Hey, E," another already-trademark forced smile accompanied her greeting.  
  
"Busy?" Evie inquired.  
  
"...Yeah, actually," Mal ducked her head down, suddenly very engrossed in her book. "Big test tomorrow, you know how it is. So if you don't mind, I—"  
  
"Mal, what did I do?" Evie blurted, her voice pleading for an answer.  
  
Mal glanced up at her. Then back down. Then back up again. Let her gaze drift off to the side a bit, still in Evie's direction but not directly on her.  
  
"...What are you talking about?"  
  
"Ever since you came back from The Isle, you...it's like I did something to you, like you're upset with me, or angry with me. You barely even talk to me anymore."  
  
"I do too. I talk to you all the time," Mal laughed it off. Only she could hear the nervous edge in the sound.  
  
"Not the way you used to."  
  
Evie's steps took her across the carpet, sat her down on the foot of her bed.  
  
"So what's wrong? You've been so quiet, and out of it, and just...not here, really. I know things with Ben have been hard—"  
  
"Ben is so not a thing," Mal quickly interrupted.  
  
"Well...then, what is it? Is it me?" Evie worried.  
  
"E, don't be ridiculous," Mal muttered.  
  
"Then why won't you even look at me??"   
  
There was a bite to Evie's words, sharp and cold. A bitter huff escaped Mal, and she didn't know where it came from. She just slammed her book shut and shoved it aside, turning herself in her chair.  
  
"There. I'm looking at you. Happy now?"  
  
"...M, why are you treating me like this?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not treating you like anything!"  
  
"That's exactly my point!" Evie couldn't help raising her voice. "You're treating me like I'm nothing, instead of the best friend who just risked everything to go back to The Isle and rescue you!"  
  
"I didn't ask you to."  
  
The silence then was very abrupt. Evie raised one perfect brow, her features hardening like glass.  
  
"...Excuse me?"   
  
Like an echo, Mal heard her own words over again, and was appalled.  
  
What was she doing?  _Why_ was she doing it?? Evie was the smartest girl she knew, of course she'd picked up on the fact that something had changed with Mal, it was only natural for her to question it. But this? The cruel way Mal had been pushing her back and shutting her out? How could she do that to the girl her heart claimed to love?  
  
Easy, the same way she'd left her behind for what she thought was forever with only a short note and a ring that wasn't even hers. The answer, Mal fearfully understood, was suddenly all too simple.  
  
Poison. That was what Mal was. A deadly thing that took ahold and choked, slowly, causing misery and suffering until there was absolutely nothing left. It was why Mal took off without a word, and why she had been all too prepared to send Evie back to Auradon without her. Mal wasn't her happily ever after, and there was no way she ever could be. That fact took hold of her heart and seized it with a crushing, agonizing grip. Maybe, if Mal's feelings had just stayed buried deep inside where even she couldn't find them, they could still be the best friends they thought they'd always be. But it was too late. Those feelings had risen to the surface, impossible to shove back down, getting in the way of her life.  
  
Getting in the way of Evie's, too. And like Mal and her heart had agreed back on The Isle, she would never let any part of her destroy any part of Evie. So with her ice cold hands clenched into fists, and a sick, shaky feeling starting to creep over her body, Mal knew.  
  
She had to take herself out of the picture. In a way that would assure Evie never came looking to bring her back into it.  
  
"I didn't ask you to come rescue me, Evie," she firmly said, fighting off a quiver in her voice.  
  
The frown on Evie's face was confused, bewildered, like Mal was speaking a language she just couldn't understand.  
  
"You didn't have to, Mal. I would do anything for you."  
  
"Well, maybe you should stop," Mal grumbled.  
  
Evie met her venom with a shrug.  
  
"I can't do that. It's sort of a best friend thing."  
  
"Then I guess I don't need a best friend anymore, not if she's just going to hover around suffocating me!!"  
  
Mal herself felt the words like they were knives. She couldn't even imagine how they must have felt to Evie. Evie, who slowly rose to her feet with wide, glistening eyes.  
  
"...Okay, Mal, now I know there's something wrong. Will you drop the defensive act? Will you please just talk to me?" Evie begged. "You can tell me anything, so please, just talk. I know this isn't you."  
  
Mal rose to meet her as well, fiercely planting her feet with a scowl.  
  
"You know, I'm getting awfully sick and tired of people telling me who I am. And getting awfully sick and tired of  _you_ , Evie."  
  
Evie's gasp cut the air as if it were a piercing blade.  
  
"What is  _wrong_ with you?!" Evie demanded, tears already flooding her eyes.  
  
"The fact that you keep asking me that, for one thing!"  
  
Mal had absolutely no idea how she was doing this, standing there with that stony set to her face while she hurt Evie in all the worst ways. Maybe, after everything, it turned out that she really was evil after all. For no good person could ever, ever bring someone they loved to tears the way she had.  
  
"...Get out, Evie. Just leave me alone."  
  
The threatening quiver wasn't quite as easy to fight back the second time around.  
  
And Evie was done arguing, taking off with a hand to her mouth to stifle a cry, failing miserably and letting one escape nonetheless as she ran to the door and slammed it shut behind her.   
  
Mal thought she could at least make it to her bed—she couldn't, legs giving out and making her collapse onto the bedroom floor with a wrenching sob. The tears didn't linger in her eyes, they ran straight down her cheeks in tiny rivers, little drops spilling onto her shirt as she hung her head and hugged her arms around herself. She felt she might go deaf from the sound of her own cries, painfully piercing her ears over and over again.  
  
There was a fog around Mal's head that next morning, a dark and hazy cloud dulling her senses. It took three tries before Carlos' inquiry of "Where's Evie?" reached her consciousness at breakfast, and a flat, robotic "Don't know" was all she could offer. Evie missing at breakfast was understandable enough, but Evie missing in class? That was harder to swallow.  
  
Terrible fear and worry took root in Mal's chest and settled there like a lead weight. What could Evie have gotten up to? Where could she have gone? No, Mal told herself, she had to keep her head. Skipping class wasn't Evie's thing, but it didn't mean that she had wandered off somewhere, lost and alone. For all Mal knew, Evie simply waited until she knew Mal had gone off to class for her chance to return to the dorm and hide the day away. She was smart,  _and_  she grew up on The Isle. The girl knew how to avoid being found.  
  
"Have you seen Evie??" was what Mal frantically blurted at the end of Day 2, after she had bolted from her last class of the day to race to the boys' room and ask.  
  
Jay, emptying out his backpack, shook his head.  
  
"We figured if anyone had seen her around, it would be you," he said cooly.  
  
"Aren't you guys worried at all about what she's up to?"  
  
Jay and Carlos exchanged a glance, silently asking each other that very same question.  
  
"So she's playing a little hooky," Jay shrugged. "Big whoop. Even people like Evie need a break every now and then."  
  
What a hypocrite Mal was. She was the one who pushed Evie away, told her to get lost, made her feel unwelcome in her own home, and now she was the one desperately wishing someone had at least caught a glimpse of her, just so she could know that Evie was alright. But what a silly, foolish thought. Of course Evie wasn't alright. Evie was hurt, and heartbroken. She probably never wanted to see Mal's face again. The same couldn't be said for Mal, and how after making rounds to Jane and Lonnie to ask whether they'd seen Evie, she came back to the dorm room to huddle on the bed and flip through the many, many pictures of her and Evie she'd kept on her phone. The two of them smiling, making faces, posing, laughing...boy, what Maleficent would say if she could see her daughter like this, pining over the girl like the whole world had come to an end after only two measly days of going without her.  
  
Ridiculous, that was what Maleficent would say. Maybe a few words a little stronger, but "ridiculous" for sure. And Mal knew it too on some level, how stupid it was to tearfully wander down memory lane just two days later. But maybe that was just love in a nutshell, turning seconds into hours and turning two days apart into two years apart. Or maybe it was Mal's horrendous guilt gnawing away at her, the guilt of realizing there had to be better ways to deal with unrequited love than crushing hearts and feelings into dozens of little pieces. But that was Mal for you, naturally inclined to opt for the most violent and turbulent option.  
  
She somehow managed to muddle through homework, studying, and a quick visit from Jay hunting down his Tourney stick, and night had fallen before she knew it. Sometimes, Mal liked to get lost in her thoughts, and other times, she had no choice. Leaning back against the head of her bed, knees drawn and arms folded, was one of the times Mal had no choice but to end up lost in her thoughts.  
  
_"...You can find me in the space between, where two worlds come to meet, I'll never be out of reach...'cause you're a part of me so you can find me in the space between. You'll never be alone, no matter where you go...we can meet in the space between."_  
  
Mal sang to herself, eyes unfocusing as the sound of her own shaky voice settled over her.  
  
So much for promises. It only took Mal a matter of weeks to break the promise of the space between. If she lost Evie forever over this, it would only serve Mal right. She really  _did_ wish that Evie had never come to rescue her from The Isle. None of this would've happened. They never would've sang. Mal never would have come to realize she'd fallen in love.  
  
It wasn't her alarm that woke her the next morning, it was the sounds of the dresser drawers opening and closing, the closet door too. Of course, drowning in dreamland, Mal didn't quite know what the sounds were of, all she knew was that they were loud, obnoxious, and slowly wrenching her eyes open.  
  
"...E?" for a second, she was sure she was still dreaming, until she lifted her head off the pillow and her vision cleared. "...Evie!"  
  
Wide awake now, she sat bolt upright and threw the covers off, touching her feet to the floor. Evie was looking for a jacket, finding it in the closet and slipping it on over her already incredible outfit.  
  
"Evie, where were you?? I kept asking around, but no one had any idea where you'd gone."  
  
Evie looked across the room at her with a bored, icy stare.  
  
"Oh, so now I'm supposed to believe that you care?"  
  
Mal figured she deserved that. She hung her head, unable to look Evie in the eye.  
  
"I'm just...I'm glad you didn't follow my stupid example and do something crazy like run off to The Isle."  
  
"Well, M, the last time I braved going to The Isle, it didn't work out so well for me."  
  
And then Evie left, purse over her shoulder and strutting her way out the door. Mal wanted to go after her, it was an instinct she didn't even know she had, but she knew better. Come afternoon, she found herself so into her sketchbook that only the bedroom door opening snapped her head up, but the face in the doorway wasn't the one she was hoping for.  
  
"Hey Carlos," she said distractedly, sharpening her pencil.  
  
"Hey," Carlos pulled up a chair. "I saw Evie."  
  
"So did I," Mal muttered.  
  
Silence fell, and Mal let it linger. Carlos was actually reduced to twiddling his thumbs.  
  
"...So, at first, I had this really complicated plan involving truth gummies. Like, getting you to make another one, getting you to give it to me, and then somehow tricking you into eating it instead," Carlos said, seemingly out of nowhere.  
  
"What are you babbling about?" Mal demanded, not interested enough to look away from her sketchbook.  
  
Carlos smiled shyly, even though Mal wasn't seeing it.  
  
"Getting you to admit that you love Evie."  
  
Wow, was that ever a way to nab Mal's attention.  
  
_"What??"_  
  
Carlos' grin was calm, easy. The way Mal often counted on it to be.  
  
"Come on, Mal. Not all of us are as blind as you. I've seen the goodbye note too, you know."  
  
For a moment, Mal found herself caught in a fantastic impression of a goldfish. She dropped her pencil, pushed her sketchbook aside, resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands and just burst into tears right there.  
  
"...It doesn't matter," she said quietly.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Yes, I'm in love with Evie! But it doesn't matter!" she tensely told Carlos.  
  
He started to put it together; Evie disappearing, Mal frantically asking about her, the way he had seen less and less of the girls together in the days and weeks following cotillion.  
  
"You said something to her, didn't you?" Carlos guessed. "And apparently not the right kind of something."  
  
"What, you mean like  _telling_ her that I love her? Are you insane?" Mal scowled.  
  
"Well why not?"  
  
"Because I'm not the one for her. I can't be."  
  
"You're her best friend, and she's yours. What else could you ask for?"  
  
Mal rolled her eyes at Carlos' almost childlike simplicity.  
  
"Carlos, you don't get it! Evie is everything I'm not! She's regal, and sophisticated, and...a bright light, full of warmth. Evie is everything good in the world, and I'm just the Isle girl who knows nothing except how to hurt people."  
  
Carlos frowned sadly, kicking his shoe at the carpet.  
  
"You said something terrible to Evie to push her away because you thought you weren't good enough," he realized.  
  
"I don't think, I know. The awful things I did to her when we first met on The Isle, abandoning her in Auradon without a goodbye, the awful things I've done to her now? She doesn't deserve me hanging around and screwing up her life."  
  
Carlos shook his head.  
  
"I don't think you screw up her life. And I don't think Evie thinks it either."  
  
"She does now."  
  
"Well, not saying that I approve of your method, but distancing yourself from Evie to protect her, even though it's hurting you? That's pretty selfless, Mal. Someone who's only good at hurting people would never know how to be that selfless," Carlos explained. "You really love her, and you don't have to keep yourselves apart like this."  
  
Mal narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
"Do you honestly expect me to tell her, Carlos? She has a  _boyfriend."_  
  
Carlos scooted his chair in close to Mal, leaning forward with his hands clasped together.  
  
"...Mal, if you hadn't been so busy driving a wedge between the two of you, you would've known that Evie broke up with Doug after cotillion."  
  
Another impression of a goldfish, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.  
  
"...She what?" Mal almost didn't hear her own voice, as much of a strangled whisper as it was.  
  
"She said she just didn't feel the sparks with him that she was supposed to be feeling. And you know how good Evie is at chemistry," Carlos chuckled.  
  
It was like sensory overload for Mal, hearing all of this. Carlos then turned serious, a strange look on him but an important one nonetheless.  
  
"Mal, listen...I'm definitely no expert, but I know that even though admitting your feelings is always hard, something good will always come out of it. You either get the girl, or you get to move on knowing that you overcame your fears and did your best, and that no one can fault you for trying. And I may not have best friend status, but I know Evie pretty well too, and I know that the thought of her liking you back isn't as out there as you think."  
  
"Liking me back," Mal scoffed. "Sure, maybe a one in a billion chance. But she definitely won't  _love_  me back."  
  
"You won't know unless you go find out. And, not to drop hints or anything, but when I ran into Evie in the hall she was headed for Jane's room."  
  
Mal remembered fire. She remembered it blazing emerald in her eyes as a dragon threatened her friends, or when she faced off with the sea witch's daughter in her smelly chip shop. She remembered it running a course from limb to limb with her fingers curled tightly around a sword and her friends' lives once again on the line. In spite of the despondent mess she'd been as of late, Mal still remembered what it was like to feel fire blazing within. Which is why she recognized it as it began to well up in the center of her chest with Evie's face serving as a crystal clear picture in her mind.  
  
"...You said she was heading for Jane's room?" Mal repeated, slowly getting to her feet.  
  
Carlos smiled slyly.  
  
"Go get her."  
  
Mal made a mental note to hug him later.  
  
It was a strange sensation, winding up somewhere with no memory of how you got there. Mal knew she was in front of Jane's dorm room door with her fist raised to knock because she had stormed her way there with fierce determination, she just didn't remember the actual storming part. But a fist raised to knock was as far as she got for a moment, beginning to feel the tendrils of fear and hesitation dousing the fire that brought her here. Should she just turn around? There was still time, after all, time to go run and cower in her room.  
  
Except she was Mal, self-proclaimed Isle girl, and if there were two things an Isle girl didn't do, it was running and cowering.  
  
"...Mal?"  
  
Mal was running on autopilot, unaware of knocking but suddenly seeing Jane's face there in front of her.  
  
"...Jane, hi. Is Evie here? Carlos said he saw her coming this way, and—"  
  
"Oh...um..." Jane's eyes were wide, almost frightened at the sight of Mal. "She...she doesn't want to see you..."  
  
Mal didn't know what else she was expecting, but those words hit like a punch in the chest.  
  
"...What??"  
  
Still on autopilot, Mal tried to peer around Jane to glance into the room, but Jane matched her movements, blocking the way.  
  
"...Jane, please, I just want to talk to her."  
  
All of a sudden, there was Audrey, moving to stand by Jane with a glower.  
  
"She doesn't want to  _talk_ to you either," Audrey said.  
  
Any other time, Mal would've been more than happy to throw down with the princess, but right now, she just didn't have the energy.  
  
"...Okay," she hung her head ashamedly, refusing to meet either of their eyes.  
  
Ever sympathetic, Jane whispered Mal's name with such pity, hating to see the best friends at odds. Audrey did no such thing, watching Mal turn and walk away before uttering a satisfied "hmph" and shutting the door behind her with a bit of a slam.  
  
Carlos was there when Mal got back to her own room, waiting on the good news. An eager face at the opening of the door melted into a frown when he saw the not-so-eager face on Mal.  
  
"What happened?" he asked.  
  
Mal leaned back against the door, staring at the opposite wall as she worked on how she wanted to phrase it.  
  
"...I've messed up a lot in my life, Carlos. But I've never messed up this badly before..."  
  
She sank down to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest and burying her face in her hands. Carlos heard as she started to cry, the sound somehow muffled and painfully amplified at the same time. Mal really couldn't believe she could cry anymore, she'd honestly had her fill of it. Carlos was soon crawling over beside her, putting his arm around Mal's shoulder and sitting in silence as she cried and cried.

* * *

 

Mal's nails tapped an uneven, anxious rhythm on her desk in first period the next morning. Her eyes darted around so wildly it was a wonder she didn't make herself dizzy; glance at the clock, glance at the door, glance down at her hand, glance back at the door. Evie could hide in Jane and Audrey's dorm during the off hours, but she couldn't hide from Mal in class. Mal knew her, and she knew she'd had enough of skipping school. Evie would be walking through that door any minute now.

8:26.  
  
Any minute.  
  
8:27.  
  
She had to.  
  
8:29.  
  
And she did, striding into the classroom, perfectly flawless as always. Mal was ready to go jumping out of her seat, running over, trying to get Evie to at least  _look_ at her for a minute, that would count as progress—but Evie was one step ahead of her. Striding into the classroom, perfectly flawless, right as the bell began to ring. The one particular class that their one particular teacher started right on the dot. Mal was silenced before she even had a chance to open her mouth. So there was Evie, sitting four desks ahead, two rows over, never once even remotely glancing in Mal's direction. It was agony, plain and simple. With the minutes ticking on one by one, Mal was beginning to think that she didn't even care if she admitted her feelings or not; she just wanted her best friend back.  
  
The bell ringing to end class was her second chance, and she almost didn't realize it, as zoned out as she was. But Evie was closer to the door than she was, and already up out of her seat practically the very second the bell began to ring. Binder and books neatly tucked in her shoulder bag, she was ready to take off at a moment's notice, as opposed to Mal, scrambling to shove her things into her backpack and fighting to zip the pockets so she could get a move on and catch up to Evie. Mal darted out into the hallway, whipping her head around to look up and down the corridor, but Evie was gone. The girl was quick.  
  
Mal just underestimated _how_ quick.  
  
The morning classes, lunch, afternoon classes...if Mal didn't know any better, she'd swear "Evie" was short for "Evasion". And from one day to the next, she kept at it. If it wasn't Mal and Evie's unspoken race to the door after first period, it was Evie eating her lunch in a different part of campus each day so Mal never quite knew where to look. The boys tried their hands at it too, urging Evie to give Mal just a few minutes of her time to listen to what she had to say. They even went so far as to try tag-teaming, Jay hurrying to get Mal whenever he spotted Carlos and Evie together, and Carlos hurrying to get Mal whenever he spotted Jay and Evie together. But Evie was not so easily tricked, and always caught on no matter how sly the boys tried to be. Too many times did Mal get texts of "Dining hall", "West staircase", "Bleachers", only to have them quickly be followed by "Nevermind", "Nevermind", "Nevermind".   
  
Mal would steel herself for the occasional all-nighter, knowing Evie couldn't stay with Audrey and Jane forever. Watching tv, drawing, wandering the dorm room to bring her heavy, sleepy eyes back to life, Mal would wait and wait for Evie's return, over and over again. But over and over again, she awoke to a bright morning, having lost her fight to stay awake and passing out long before she ever saw Evie.  
  
She tried to text.  _"Evie, I am so sorry. Please, give me a chance to apologize in person"._  She knew she wouldn't get a response, she just hoped that Evie would see it.  
  
_You're part of who I am._  
  
The words of their promise back on The Isle, words that Mal found herself typing out so many different times, then jamming her thumb on backspace before she dared to send them.  
  
And then, the library.  
  
Mal, with her various failed all-nighters, was sure she had fallen asleep when she walked into the library to check out a book for class and saw Evie across the room, alone at a table and engrossed in her chemistry textbook. Mal blinked. Shook her head. Almost rubbed her eyes, but blinked some more and understood it was no dream. Before she knew it, she was treading slowly and carefully across the library floor, moving like she was trying not to frighten off a small animal. Evie was so focused that she didn't notice at all, not even when Mal stood and hovered over her at the edge of the table.  
  
"...Evie, I'm sorry," Mal made sure it was the first thing she said. "I'm  _so_ sorry."  
  
Her voice snapped Evie out of it with a jolt, and an icy stare fixed itself firmly in place before she tilted her head to look up at Mal.  
  
"...Duly noted," she said stiffly, ducking her gaze back down and flipping a page.  
  
"...E, it's no excuse, I know that it's not, but I said what I said to you because I was scared."  
  
"Scared of what? Being nice? That does sound like you."  
  
Mal didn't know what to say.  
  
"...Wait, I'm not explaining this right," she murmured.  
  
"I'd rather you didn't explain it at all."  
  
Evie snapped her book shut, a startlingly loud sound in the hushed library, and moved to put it inside her bag. Mal knew she was getting ready to take off. She also knew that this was her only chance, that Evie wouldn't let a happy accident like this happen again, and that she'd better get her words straight here and now before she utterly lost the opportunity to say them.  
  
"I was a mess when I left for The Isle, and a mess when I came back from it. Wild, and all over the place...and after my best friend risked her life and her sanity to bring me back, I couldn't repay her with that."  
  
"So you hurt me because you didn't want to hurt me? Thanks, Mal," Evie rolled her eyes and stood up.   
  
"Wait, no, that isn't what I meant—"  
  
But Evie wasn't hearing anymore of it, and Mal's one chance was quickly flying away. She hurried to keep up with Evie as she weaved through tables and bookshelves, desperate to make this right. Heads turned and swiveled as their chase disrupted the quiet flow of the library and garnered the frightening glares of a librarian or two.  
  
"I didn't want to hurt you, I was trying to protect you! That's all I've ever wanted to do!"  
  
"You're in the library, M. Why don't you look up 'protect' in the dictionary? I don't think you quite know the meaning of it."  
  
Their voices were raising, disturbing the peace in the room more and more.  
  
"Evie, wait, you don't understand..."  
  
"No, I don't," Evie agreed. "Now please, Mal, just leave me alone."  
  
Mal slowed in her steps before finally coming to a stop, and Evie got ahead of her. More and more, almost disappearing from the library entirely.  
  
"...I love you!!"  
  
Mal didn't even recognize her own voice as it blurted the words across the library at her best friend. Evie stopped in her tracks, all of a sudden listening harder than she had in weeks.   
  
Dead silence, save for the pounding in Mal's ears. Her heart raced, her breath caught, every pair of eyes in the library was on her, except for one.  
  
Evie's.  
  
The only eyes she cared about.  
  
"...I am hopelessly in love with you, Evie," Mal desperately said. "I realized that on The Isle. But I meant what I said there; you're an Auradon girl, E, in every sense of the word. And I could  _never_ be good enough for you! That's why I pushed you away! But the way I did it...Evie, it was stupid, and  _I'm_ stupid, and so stupidly in love that I guess I can't even think straight. That's why, Evie. I told you that I'm just the girl from The Isle, and that's all I'll ever be, a villain and a lowlife who can only hurt people, even when I try to have good intentions."  
  
Mal didn't even realize she was crying until the first tear ran down her cheek.   
  
It felt like forever, forever that Mal stood there in the middle of the library, defeated and humiliated with dozens of burning and surely judgmental eyes locked on her.  
  
"...That's why I did it, Evie," she repeated. "And I'm so, so sorry. I just wanted you to know...I just wanted to explain myself."  
  
Burning and judgmental eyes. Intense stares.  At first, Mal didn't care about them, and now, she couldn't.  
  
Because the only pair of soft brown eyes she cared about were finally looking back at her, narrowed and glistening with tears.  
  
"You  _are_ stupid," Evie snapped, coming forward step by step. "Why do you think I followed you to The Isle? Why I grabbed our friends and took off after you without a second thought? Why I was willing to let you go and let you stay even when it killed me to know I was going to lose my best friend?? Mal, you idiot! I love you too!!"  
  
Mal swore she heard a couple dramatic gasps from the crowd. But then again, she wasn't entirely sure they weren't hers. And she didn't know when or how Evie had ended up standing right there in front of her, the two of them physically the closest they'd been in forever, almost since singing to each other back on The Isle.  
  
"I am hopelessly in love with you, Mal...exactly as you are."  
  
"...Exactly as I am?" Mal's voice was a choked whisper. "Evie, how? I—"  
  
"You're the girl from The Isle. And I'm the Auradon girl. Mal, yes, the two couldn't be more different, they're complete opposites. But you obviously forgot...The Isle is part of Auradon."  
  
Mal's heart somersaulted in her chest.  
  
"...'You're part of who I am'," she said quietly, remembering their song.  
  
"Did I complain about your lying and fighting and stealing candy from babies before we came to Auradon?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Did I complain about the scheming and evil love spells and nasty glares when we did come here?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Was I the one who asked you to change, to give up your spellbook and your purple hair for the bright flowery dresses and the etiquette lessons?"  
  
"...No, Evie. You weren't," Mal hung her head.  
  
"Then  _why_ would you ever think that any part of you wasn't good enough for me?"  
  
"Because..." Mal was at a loss.  
  
"Because you are a mess, M," Evie tucked her fingers under Mal's chin and tilted her head up. "...But you're my mess. And if you're done with the whole martyr act, I want you to stay my mess."  
  
"I'm so sorry for what I did, and what I said. I just...I love you, Evie. And you really love me?"  
  
Evie's teary smile, the first smile of any sort she'd worn in weeks, brightened the room like rays of sunshine.  
  
"M, I've flirted with you more times than I can count. Thanks for noticing," she mercilessly teased.  
  
Mal paused just long enough to wipe away the stinging in her eyes before falling into Evie's arms in a hug, the both of them holding on tighter to each other than they ever had before. And then the whole library was clapping and cheering.  
  
Mal paid them no attention, didn't even feel like anyone else was really there. To her, it was just Mal and Evie, Evie and Mal.  
  
"I missed you..." she closed her eyes and whispered in Evie's ear.  
  
_"I'll never be out of reach,"_ Evie softly sang back in Mal's.  
  
Mal had tried to clear her tears away, but it was to no avail. Out of happiness now, at least, they just kept streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"Mal, at the end of the day, The Isle will always be a part of Auradon. And for better or worse, Auradon wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for The Isle. This Auradon girl will always need you, just the way you are. So please don't change, please don't leave me behind."  
  
"Never again," Mal wouldn't even let her go, holding her tighter and making up for all the hugs and all the touches she'd missed out on as of late. "...Evie?"  
  
"Mal?"  
  
"...Have you really been flirting with me?"  
  
"Oh no, I just like to compliment how amazing you look because I have a keen sense of fashion."  
  
It felt like a long-overdue welcome home when Evie accompanied Mal back to their dorm room, the two of them having a seat together on the edge of Mal's bed.  
  
"...Will you ever forgive me?" Mal asked, anxious, as if their moment in the library was confined solely to the library and Evie might again storm out of the room at any second.  
  
"You always forgive the ones you love, M."  
  
When Evie's head laid on Mal's shoulder, everything was suddenly okay again. Mal had held her hand plenty of times before, but as her fingers crept over and curled around Evie's, it felt different this time. Warm, and electric. They could just stay there forever, the two of them unperturbed and unbothered by anything else that may have been happening in the outside world.  
  
"Remind me to hug Carlos," Mal murmured.  
  
"For what?" Evie giggled.  
  
The sound brought such a smile to Mal's face. Such a smile.  
  
"I'll tell you later."  
  
Later indeed. Everything in the world and the universe beyond could wait, because Mal was going to enjoy this. For they had found each other in the space between, where two entirely different worlds had come to meet, just like Mal and Evie had promised. Mal never knew that just sitting with each other could be so... _this,_  with Evie nuzzling softly into the crook of her neck and letting the most blissful of sighs escape. How lucky they were to have fallen in love with their best friend.  
  
In all the flustered, emotional, panicked running at the mouth, Mal hadn't gotten the chance to really hear the words, to carefully listen to them and feel the way they flowed past her lips.  
  
"...I love you, Evie," she carefully said, tentatively drawing out all four words.  
  
The best four words in existence.  
  
"I love you too, Mal."  
  
Scratch that.  
  
Mal decided that there were five words even better.


End file.
